My name is danah boyd and I'm a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and the founder/president of Data & Society. Buzzwords in my world include: privacy, context, youth culture, social media, big data. I use this blog to express random thoughts about whatever I'm thinking.

7 comments to what everyone should know about blog depression

i’ve (obviously) been paying attention to the spread of this pamphlet since sunday went i put it up and it has proven to be very popular. on the one hand it’s meant to be humorous, and people are certainly taking it in that spirit, but on the other hand i think the strong reaction does point to some fairly large grains of truth nestled within.

i know that i have felt a lot of the “symptoms” i put into the pamphlet. i created it durring a bout of dissatisfaction in point of fact. i’ve also seen many other bloggers complain, mope, moan, and eventually close up shop. so i think, joke though it may be, it struck a nerve.

blogging is fascinating in that (professional / goods and services sites aside) it has no practical purpose. it is truly an art if looked at in those terms. it is such a new form, and such a public form, that the growing pains are uncommonly visible.

This has long been a complaint of web workers of all stripes. I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve come home from work and proclaimed by undying hatred for the internet and the sickly glow of my display.

Like any creative thing, Blogging is hard with a capital H (as you well know), but wonderful if you can get through the dark parts.

Wait, don’t delete me! Was there a question in that post? Crap. Stupid Internet!

i know that i have felt a lot of the “symptoms” i put into the pamphlet. i created it durring a bout of dissatisfaction in point of fact. i’ve also seen many other bloggers complain, mope, moan, and eventually close up shop. so i think, joke though it may be, it struck a nerve.

Chris Locke writes about “Indigo Children,” a meme reported on by the New York Times. The Indigo idea sounds like it pushes a whole bunch of buttons all at once – New Age, angels, the paranormal, child-worship, ADD. If it had some anti-child-porn hysteria about it, it’d be perfect. As one of the people in the NYT article says, this is basically the same social world view as Harry Potter’s muggles v. wizards set up.

Anyway, it is a great example of what Chris has been talking about over at Mystic Bourgeoisie, America’s Toughest to Spell weblog